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Mass Combat Mechanics
This page is for rules to resolve mass combat in CMQ. Under construction. Modifiers * Luck * Environment * Enemy * Morale * Doctrine Luigi's work/suggestions A unit's Strength '''represents its general effectiveness and is used for comparison purposes, as everything is graded relative to each other. Strength is a cumulative stat derived from every facet of the unit's combat potential. Biology, training, intelligence, armour, weaponry and all other factors that directly contribute to an entity's combat prowess are taken into account. The Imperial Guardsman is taken as Power 1.0, and is the baseline from which everything else is measured. Vehicle Strength also factors in the skills of its operators and quality of construction. For example while a Leman Russ may have heavier weapons and thicker armour than an Astartes Predator the Predator's armour consists of much more expensive and stronger materials, the weapons are operated by extremely competent Space Marines, and the vehicle's greater speed and skilled driver make it much harder to hit than a Leman Russ. Another important thing to note is that these rough comparisons only apply over a very large scale. For example by using the stats below a Predator is directly equivilent to 5 Tactical Marines. However if we focus on smaller-scale situations these two options clearly have advantages over each other. The Predator would be far more effective fighting its way down a street against enemies using small-arms. The 5 Tactical Marines would be far more effective in clearing a building. The Predator is also much more likely to be salvageable after being lost-in-battle than a Tactical Marine. But in a large scale battle where many of both could face a number of situations and react accordingly their effectiveness is roughly the same. However a unit's power can be influenced by many factors such as range and force composition. Such things are covered by '''Traits, each of which are described further down. *'Genestealer Purestrain' - The nature of the genestealer means it's relative strength is dependent on a large number of factors. Including terrain density and allies (purestrain genestealers are much more survivable if accompanied by hybrid/cultist fodder). Once it is in melee range a genestealer is ferociously strong, capable of slaughtering its way through an entire company of Imperial Guard or tearing a Leman Russ to scraps with its razor sharp claws. However it is relatively easy to gun down a genestealer before it can reach melee range. Given the complexity of their operation and the generally small numbers they are seen in, they are not definitively categorised in the table above. As a general guideline, a genestealer is equivilent to a terminator if allowed inside CQC (<10m) range. Specialities Combat specialites consist of CQC, Ranged, Scout, Tank '''and '''Aircraft. these are fields of combat in which units have specialised in either by equipment, training or biological imperative. If a sufficient proportion of the force (at least ~20%) is made up of specialised units then it's total tallied strength recieves a positive modifer, provided the remainder of the force is unspecialized. Having multiple types of specialised unit increase the magnitude of this modifier. However if over ~50% of a force's composition consists of unit's with the same type of specialisation (eg an ork army all has CQC-oriented) then their bonus depends on other factors such as terrain and can become a penalty instead (for example, an entirely CQC-oriented army recieves a significant bonus in dense Urban terrain, but a significant penalty in Open Ground). APCs serve as force multipliers. Their positive modifier to the overall force's strength is proportional to the percentage of the force's infantry they are capable of carrying at once. They also have utility outside of combat as they provide a method of quickly transporting the force over large distances. Such specialties can make enormous differences when compounded and compared. For example if a force with a large proportion of units with the Ranged specialty fought in Open Terrain against a force made up entirely of unit's with the CQC specialty, it is more than possible that the CQC force would be completely annihilated whilst the Ranged force suffers only negligible losses. Example of No Force Diversity *100 Tactical Marines = 5000 Strength No specialties, no over-specialties, and no APCs. This force has no modifier and so runs of it's raw strength of 5000, making it equivilent to around 5000 Imperial Guardsmen. Example of Ideal Force Diversity *60 Tactical Marines = Strength 3000 *20 Devastator Marines = Strength 1000 + Ranged *20 Assault Marines = Strength 1000 + CQC *10 Sternguard Veterans = Strength 750 + Ranged *10 Vanguard Veterans = Strength 750 + CQC *20 Scout Marines = Strength 400 + Scout *4 Land Speeders = Strength 400 + Scout *4 Predators = Strength 1000 + Tank *6 Thunderhawks = Strength 2100 + Aircraft + APC *10+ Rhinos = APC The sum of this force's raw strength is 10400. However it also features units with all 5 different combat specialities, and each specialty makes up a roughly equal proportion of the force's strength (all ~10-30% each). It also features enough APCs (both as Rhinos and Thunderhawks) to carry all infantry at once, maximising the strength modifier gained from this as well. This force is a perfect example of force diversity, and maximises all possible diversity-related strength modifiers. This perfect force gives a positive modifier of around +150% resulting in a final effective strength of ~26000. Thus making the force equal in power to around 26,000 Imperial Guardsmen or 650 Standard Chaos Space Marines that lack any other specialised elements. Example of Non-Ideal Force Diversity *40 Tactical Marines = Strength 2000 *20 Devastator Marines = Strength 1000 + Ranged *2 Predators = Strength 500 + Tank This force only has 2 specialties, but they still have 'good' proportion with each other (both specialties ~10-25% each) as well has making up an appreciable percentage of the total force. This non-Ideal force diversity would result in a force multiplier or around +75%. Modifying the force's raw strength of 3500 to 6125. Making it equivilent to around 6000 Imperial Guardsmen or 120 Tactical Marines with no specialised elements. Example of Over-Specialised Force Diversity *20 Vanguard Veterans = Strength 1500 + CQC *40 Assault Marines = Strength 2000 + CQC *20 Tactical Marines = Strength 1000 This force only has 1 speciality which makes up ~75% of the force's total strength. This is a over-specialisation and provides no raw modifier to the force's base strength. However instead it renders the entire force subject to other factors. In this case the entire force is over-specialised to CQC. This means it will recieve a sizeable (~ +100%) strength modifier in CQC-favourable terrain like Urban environments. However it will also cause extreme negative (~ -50%) strength modifiers in CQC-unfavourable terrain such as Open Ground. Therefore in a dense city this force has a modified strength of ~9000, making these 80 assorted marines equal in strength to 180 Tactical Marines with no specilised elements. Conversely in open terrain it has a modified stength of ~2250, making these 80 assorted marines equal in strength to just 45 Tactical Marines with no specialised elements. Results of the Battle With the above guidelines one can find out the effective modified strengths of all forces involved. Therefore with some simple rolls for things like Strategy, Tactics and Leadership (modified with GM dicretion by orders given, strategies outlined in post, skills of the commanding officer etc.), one can intuitively deduce the damage each force will have caused the other over the course of a battle. For example if the friendly force has a modified strength twice as big as the enemy force even relatively poor Strategy/Tactics/Leadership rolls will likely cause severe damage to the enemy force, though with greater friendly casualties than if the Strategy/Tactics/Leadership rolls were better. Furthermore casualties can be applied appropriately. For example if the enemy force contains very few units capable of producing Anti-Air fire but the friendly force contains aircraft then the GM can increase enemy casualties appropriately due to them being strafed with impunity, whilst also knowing that none of the friedly aircraft will be included in friendly casualties because they couldn't be damaged.